I Hate Humans, Maybe?
by sakura-blossoms-falling
Summary: Humans die so easily. Their lives are just a flash in comparison to the life of a youkai. Weak creatures. I hate humans. I hate them. But I didn't hate him. No, I didn't hate him. It's something more like...love. One-shot.


**A new fanfic! I should probably be focusing on my other ones, but I was bored and I'm too lazy to turn on my laptop.**

**This is my first fanfiction for Natsume Yuujinchou, but I love that series so I wanted to try one. Please enjoy.**

* * *

I hate humans. I hate humans. Greedy, selfish bastards, they are. They think only for themselves and think they are so superior to us youkai. Disgusting. I hate humans.

* * *

"Get away! Leave me alone!" A distinctly human cry brought me out of my slumber and I slowly opened my golden eyes.

A human boy ran under my tree, stumbled over a branch and fell flat on his face. I held back a snicker at the human's clumsiness. My laugher died as a big black shadow closed over the human. I frowned. What was such a low life youkai doing around these parts?

"Natsume! Give me the Book of Friends!" The shadow youkai snarled.

The human shielded himself with his arms. "No! Get away!" He swung the branch he had fallen over, but it passed harmlessly through the youkai.

The youkai laughed. "Pitiful human. You can't hurt me! Now hand over the Book of Friends!"

Book of Friends? Where had I heard that before? Oh right, it's that book that Natsume Reiko made with all of the names of the youkai she defeated. Apparently the owner can command the names in the book.

I snorted. Just like a human to try and command youkai. Perhaps I should take it.

"What will you use the Book of Friends for?!" I had to give the puny human some credit; he was still resisting the shadow youkai.

"Why? I will rule the youkai! Such power cannot belong to a mere human!" The youkai laughed evilly.

Che, what an idiot! I scoffed at the shadow youkai. No one commands me! If there is one thing I hate more than humans, it is over ambitious fools like the one below me.

Enough of this stupid chatter! I pointed a finger at the shadow and sparks burst around my fingers and then slammed into the youkai.

With a surprised screech, the youkai fled through the trees, leaving the human. He looked up at me and I glared back down at him.

"Thank you," he said as he stood up and brushed himself off.

I huffed in annoyance. "I didn't do it for you. I hate humans."

The human just sighed and began walking away. I watched him push his way through the brush and couldn't help but be a little curious as to how a human could see us youkai and how he came across Natsume Reiko's legendary Book of Friends. He also looked disturbingly like a human from the past. My curiosity got the best of me and I did the stupid thing and followed the human.

* * *

Geh, what am I even doing here?! I was currently hunched outside of the human boy's bedroom window, trying to shelter myself from the harsh winds and pelting rain that had suddenly descended on the land.

I had followed the human boy all the way to his home from the forest. I could see that he had a fat cat companion, but he gave off the scent of a powerful youkai. I was curious as why such a powerful youkai was in a such a shameful form.

A particularly strong wind whipped the rain into me face and I snuggled my head into my drawn up knees. The window suddenly opened and I looked up, startled. The human boy was staring down at me with the fat cat sitting on the windowsill.

"Wah? Did you follow me?" The human asked. I said nothing, just braced myself against the wind. "It must be cold out there, come in." He offered.

The cat hissed. "Are you stupid? Why are you inviting a youkai into your room! She could be dangerous!"

The boy sighed. "Stop it, Nyanko Sensei. She saved me earlier when you were busy drinking." The cat snorted and jumped away.

"Don't blame me if she tries to eat you! I won't help you and I'll take the Book of Friends for myself!" He padded away to a sake bottle standing in the corner.

The boy sighed again and then turned back to me. "Come on. I won't hurt you." He held a hand out.

I slapped it aside but entered the room none the less. I stood there as the window was closed behind me.

The room was plain with not much furniture, but it had a homely feel to it. Of course, not that I would know!

"Are you here for your name?" The boy asked as he sat down on his futon.

I stated at him, "My name? I never wrote my name in that stupid little book of yours!" I sat down and drew my knees up to my chest again.

"Then why are you here?" the boy asked.

I stayed silent because, honestly, I didn't know why I was here either. It had been a passing whim, but I'd been caught. Now what?

"How do you have the Book of Friends? Did it not belong to Natsume Reiko?" Even I had heard of the fearsome human who could defeat youkai with a single swim of her arm.

"Ah, she was my grandmother. My name is Natsume Takashi," the boy replied.

"Aho! Don't give your name to any youkai that asks for it! You'll be killed!" The fat bundle of fur had a hissy fit and smacked the boy across the face with a paw.

"Ah! Nyanko Sensei! That hurt!" The boy shoved the cat away and rubbed the paw imprint on his cheek. The cat showed no signs of remorse.

Instead he turned to me and demanded, "If you have no business here, then get out!" His fur stood up on end and he looked quite comical.

I lifted my head and raised a single eyebrow at the fat puffball. "I have no interest in humans; stupid, selfish creatures that they are!"

"Then leave!" The cat yelled.

"Sensei!" The boy scolded his rude cat.

I stood up. "I shall! Rude, fat cat!"

"Fat!?" The cat cried. He leaped for my face before I could move away. "I'm not fat! Just pleasantly plump! Stupid youkai!"

I fell backwards with the white and orange blob on my face. "Stupid cat! Get off me! I'll feed you to the inu youkai!" I yelled as I struggled to detach the furious feline from my face.

The human boy stepped in to help pry the hissing cat off me.

When he was safely secured in the boy's arms, I opened the window and yelled, "This is why I hate humans!" before jumping out.

The rain had receded to a light drizzle and I made my way away from the house as fast as I could.

Stupid human! Stupid cat! Next time I see that white potato, I'll skin and barbecue him! I reached my tree and climbed onto my sturdy branch. I crossed my arms and leaned back agains the trunk.

I hate humans! Weak creatures! I closed my eyes and tried to brush away the irritation that had come over while dealing with the human brat and his stupid cat.

As I was doing this, I couldn't help but think of another human boy who could see youkai and his cat. "Weak," I muttered, a tear sliding down my cheek. "Stupid idiot," I mumbled. I fell asleep and began to dream about a century past.

* * *

_"Raiko!" I looked opened my eyes and saw the human boy, Natsume Seiichi, standing over me._

_"Ah! Seiichi! What are you doing here?! Don't you have class?" I pushed his face away from mine._

_He dropped down onto his back beside me and folded his hands behind his head as he gazed up at the blue, cloudless sky._

_"Yeah, but I skipped!" He turned his head and grinned at me. _

_I huffed in annoyance. "You'll get in trouble with your father again!" The last time he had skipped his lessons, his father had forbidden him to leave the palace for a month. That was barely even a second to a youkai like me, but it felt like an eternity without having the human by my side._

_Seiichi just laughed. "I'll just sneak out again!" A meow made both of our heads turn to the graceful white feline who had come up to the tree and snuggled against the side of her owner._

_"Hey! Yukina! You finally decided to join us! Did you have fun hunting?" Seiichi stroked the feline's soft fur and she purred in response._

_"Seiichi! You'll get your robes dirty!" I scolded._

_He looked down at the elegant robes of a noble and shrugged. "I don't like these clothes anyway!" To punctuate his point, he dug into the ground and sprinkled a handful of dirt and grass all over himself._

_I sighed and gave up trying to keep the young nobleman from playing like a child._

_"Hey, Raiko," he said, suddenly serious._

_I looked at him, he was never this serious unless something was wrong. "Yes?" _

_"It must be nice to live such a long time." This surprised me. Seiichi had never brought up the subject of my life span before._

_I shrugged, "I'm a youkai. We have naturally longer life spans than humans do." I was cautious about my answer since I didn't know what brought this question about._

_He sighed wistfully. "I wish I was a youkai."_

_I stared at him in alarm. "Don't you ever talk like that!" I took him roughly by the shoulders and shook him. "Don't ever wish to be a youkai, ever ever ever! Got it!" He nodded in slight fear and surprise. I was also shocked at myself. I had never acted like that before._

_"Just promise you won't say anything more, okay?" I pleaded. _

_Seiichi was silent as he looked at me and then he slowly nodded. "Alright, I promise." I nodded, even though I could tell that the thought was not completely gone from his head._

_We spent the rest of the time just laying on our backs, looking up at the cloudless sky, occasionally talking about trivial things. It was peaceful and for me it was fun. The days that I spent with Seiichi made me feel almost human and I felt more alive than I have in the three hundred years that I have been alive._

_Seasons passed and I always stayed under that beautiful oak tree in the middle of the field, waiting for when Seiichi would come over the hill with Yukina padding along side him._

_Being a youkai, I never thought about how much time had passed since I first met Seiichi. It didn't matter to me since I believed that he would always be by my side._

_Such a foolish belief. I was a youkai. I was eternally different from humans. Time does not pressure me like it does humans. I do not get sick like humans do._

_Eventually, Seiichi stopped coming. I waited for days, weeks, but he still didn't show. I was sick with worry so I decided to go down to his palace._

_I floated above the humans as they worked. Servants dashed here and there, soldiers roamed around on patrol. It was a busy place and yet around a certain part of the palace, there was absolute silence._

_I stood on the walkway in front of a door and I could smell the stench of sickness. I slid open the door and stepped into the darkened room, closing the door behind me. _

_In the middle of the room was a futon and an extremely sick person was covered in blankets. I saw a bundle of white near the head and I knew instantly that it was Seiichi. _

_I knelt down by his head and gently took his hand. His face was pale and drawn. His chest shuddered with each breath he took._

_As I settled down, Yukina raised her head and mewed at me in greeting. She lowered her head back down and snuggled closer to her sick human._

_The door was opened swiftly and I quickly jumped before remembering that they couldn't see me. Seiichi had been the only human to ever be able to see me. I moved out of the way and watch as a procession of humans entered the room._

_Yukina's fur rippled and she rose to her paws with a growl in her throat._

_"Someone get this stupid cat out of here!" A sharp voice ordered. A scared looking human girl stepped forward and reached for her, but Yukina swiped a clawed paw over her hand. Four red lines appeared on her hand and she scrambled backwards._

_"Get her!" The man ordered. The girl, with tears and fear in her eyes, quickly grabbed Yukina around the middle and raced out of the room. I could hear Yukina's yowls of rage as she was carried away._

_The man sighed. "I can't believe my foolish son has kept that hideous feline!" He scoffed._

_"Please, Natsume-sama, it is best to be quiet so as to not disturb your son's rest." A second, elder man gently admonished. He knelt down beside Seiichi and began to do his regular check up on him._

_I watched in fascination as the elder did many things that made no sense. Could this person really make Seiichi better with his strange ways? I drifted closer. _

_"How is he, doctor?" The woman dressed in noble clothes asked, nervously. I assumed that the woman and the man who had ordered the removal of Yukina were the parents of Seiichi._

_Doctor looked up with a grave expression. "He will be lucky if he survives the night."_

_At this, the woman broke down and held her husband as she cried. I was also frozen in shock._

_Death? Seiichi would die? My mind refused to accept it. No way! "Seiichi can't die!" I yelled out loud. Not a head even looked my way._

_"This is for the best, anyway." I looked up in shock at Seiichi's father. His face was that of stone as he looked down on his son. _

_"Dear!" The woman gasped in shock. "How can you say that?!"_

_He man frowned at his wife. "He was never serious about anything! He skipped his lessons, defied me, has no interest in taking over the family and is a disappointment to the Natsume name!"_

_Rage burned in my veins as I listen to the human father talk crap about my friend._

_"How dare you!" I cried. I prepared to zap the bastard into a thousand and one pieces, but I was interrupted by a wheezy voice calling my name._

_"Raiko."_

_"What was that?" The father demanded. "A woman's name?"_

_"Raiko?"_

_I knelt down by Seiichi's head and gently stroked the pale skin on his forehead. "I'm here," I answered._

_"You're s-so lucky...to b-be a y-youkai," he strained himself to say as his glazed over eyes look at me._

_"Youkai?! My son was fraternizing with demons?!" His father thundered. His wife tried to calm him down. _

_"No! You're wrong! I wish I was a human! So I can be with you and die with you! As a youkai I'll live on for hundreds of years more!" Tears gathered in my eyes, blurring my vision. I quickly tried to blink them away; I refused to miss a second of Seiichi's face._

_"Raiko," he murmured, he was losing strength. "Raiko, thank...you." He managed a small smile, nothing more than a twitch of the lips, but I knew._

_My tears began to fall and I leaned over him, the tears plopping onto his cheeks. _

_"Is he hallucinating?" The woman asked the doctor in a whisper._

_The doctor shook his head. "I know not. Whoever this Raiko woman was, she must have been very precious to him. Leave him, he is dying." At this, the woman began to sob loudly._

_"Seiichi, Seiichi, I-I'm sorry!"_

_"Stop it, Raiko. I'm sorry for being such a weak human." Seiichi raised a fail hand and I grabbed it with both of mine. "I love you," he murmured._

_I cried harder. "Seiichi. Seiichi! Don't die! Please, don't!" Too late. "Idiot, I'm a youkai. I can't love a human."_

* * *

That's right, I'm a youkai. There's no way I can fall in love with a human. No way.

Humans die so easily. Their lives are just a flash in comparison to the life of a youkai. Weak creatures. I hate humans. I hate them. But I didn't hate Seiichi. No, I didn't hate him. It's something more like...love.

* * *

"Hey!" A voice broke through my dream. The first one I've had since the night of Seiichi's death.

I looked down and saw Natsume Takashi standing under my branch with his rude, fat cat perched on his shoulder.

I jumped down and glared at him. "Wha'dya want? I don't like humans."

Natsume smiled at me. This weirdo! What's he smiling about. "I have some dango, want to share?" He held up a wrapped box and the smell of the treats hit my nostrils.

The cat on his shoulder hissed in protest. "Hey! Natsume! Those are my dango! Don't just hand them off to strange youkai!" He leaped for the box, but Natsume swung it out of reach and the fat cat landed on his face.

I laughed. I couldn't help it. Such a foolish human and a rude cat, what a pair.

Natsume turned to me and smiled. "You laughed! That's good." He sat down and opened the box. He reached in and handed me a stick with the various colored balls on it. "Here, eat up," he smiled.

I took it and sat down next to him. The cat forced his way in between us and grabbed his own two sticks.

"Sensei! Leave some for others!" Natsume tried to grab him, but he danced out of reach.

"Blleeehhhh!" He stuck his tongue out at Natsume and quickly downed the dango.

I smiled as I watched the two. What a foolish human and cat. But that's what makes them so entertaining.

"SENSEI!"

* * *

**Thank you for reading this, if you got this far. Please review if you wish.**


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